Tinder shuts its doors to minors, will go 18+ only starting next week

Tinder has said it is implementing a new policy that makes the app off bounds for minors. That makes the dating app being accessible to only those above the age of 18. The lower threshold so far for anyone to get going at Tinder is 13.

It also highlights the issue why Tinder had its gates open to minors for this long. That has been the case since the company’s inception back in 2012 and had allowed anyone with the valid age to have a Facebook account to become a member of Tinder as well.

“On a platform that has facilitated over 11 billion connections, we have the responsibility of constantly assessing our different user experiences,” read the announcement from Tinder’s VP of communications, Rosette Pambakian. “Consistent with this responsibility, we have decided to discontinue service for under 18 users. We believe this is the best policy moving forward. This change will take effect next week.”

However, for those aged between 13-17, Tinder ensured they only got to see others from the same age group. While that might have saved them from becoming ‘targets’ of older men or women, the latest age restrictions seem to be a move to make the very concept of online dating itself a bit alien to the under-aged.

Apparently, it isn’t too hard either to create fake Facebook profiles to get around the new Tinder regulations, not the least of the tech-savvy kids of the times. In fact, that also brings to focus the larger pertinent question of fraudsters creating fake profiles to create a false online identity though that is a different topic altogether.

However, while the above prospects can’t be ruled out, Tinder can still save itself from any legal soup it would have landed itself in had there been any issue with any minors using its services so far. Other dating apps such as OKCupid, Match.com or eHarmony had long maintained an adult’s only policy for its members.

Tinder is among the fastest growing online dating apps with a user base of around 100 million. The move to keep kids out will, however, affect less than 3 percent of its users.

It was only some time back that Tinder had announced it would add transgender among its dating options as well while a separate health and safety section too was added recently.